


Ben Forgets his Coat and Five and Klaus Come to the Rescue

by Dogsledwolf



Series: How Does One Live? [3]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Ben Hargreeves is Alive, Fluff, Gen, Good Brother Klaus Hargreeves, Good Brother Number Five | The Boy, Light Angst, Snow Storm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-21
Updated: 2019-03-21
Packaged: 2019-11-27 02:27:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18188585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dogsledwolf/pseuds/Dogsledwolf
Summary: It was a beautiful day out. The sun was bright and warm, the sky was blue, and the air was cold and crisp. Ben took a deep breath. It might be cold, but he could handle it.___OrBen goes on a walk and it doesn't go as planned.





	Ben Forgets his Coat and Five and Klaus Come to the Rescue

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!
> 
> This is part of the series again but can be read as a stand-alone.
> 
> I meant to have this up yesterday but for whatever reason it was really difficult to write.
> 
> Anyways, I hope you like it.
> 
> Also, thank you all so much for all of the wonderful comments and kudos on my previous two fics. I have no clue if I would've finished this without it.

It was a cold January day when Ben decided to go for a walk.

 

That in itself wasn't out of the ordinary, Ben went on walks all the time. But what was unusual was that he went by himself. Normally he dragged Klaus along with him. But when he had gone to ask him, he found Klaus sleeping peacefully. Ben didn't want to bother him.

 

So he went by himself.

 

He grabbed his hoodie before leaving, pulling it on as he walked out of the house.

 

It was a beautiful day out. The sun was bright and warm, the sky was blue, and the air was cold and crisp. Ben took a deep breath. It might be cold, but he could handle it.

 

There was a bike path he'd been meaning to walk so he headed towards it now.

 

* * *

 

 

It started to snow as he made it to the bike path, but he wasn't too worried.

 

And then, about a mile into his walk the wind picked up and the sky turned dark.

 

It should clear back up.

 

Another mile and he was trudging through snow up to his ankles. The snow kept getting kicked into his shoes, melting slowly against his feet. Within minutes, the bottom of his shoes had soaked through.

 

It was manageable though. He couldn't even feel it anymore. After only a little bit, Ben's feet had turned to nothing. It was a very familiar nothing, he had _been_ that nothing when he was dead.

 

It was a familiar nothing and it took him about ten more minutes to realize that maybe that was a bad thing.

 

It took him until he tripped on the snow to realize that it was definitely a bad thing.

 

He hit the ground with a thump, face pressing up against the freezing snow. Ben pushed himself up on bare hands. The nothing spread through his hands with a startling speed.

 

Time to turn around.

 

Ben stumbled to his feet, took another step, and fell again. His hands and legs were numb, threatening to spread to his whole body.

 

Would he turn back into nothing?

 

_Was he going to die again?_

 

That wasn't normal.

 

He should call Klaus.

 

He should call Klaus because the numbness was spreading faster.

 

The numbness was spreading faster and he was going to pass out.

 

* * *

 

When Ben woke up all he knew was that he was cold.

 

He was cold and wet and, although the nothing had receded, he still couldn't feel his feet.

 

He needed to call Klaus.

 

Ben opened his eyes. The snow covered his legs and chest, it had melted against his body and then frozen again, creating a cocoon that was surprisingly warm. Maybe that's why the nothing was gone, igloos were warm after all.

 

Or it might be that his blood cells had burst and he was about to die.

 

That was considerably less likely.

 

Still, who knows how long he'd been exposed to the cold.

 

Ben forced himself into a sitting position carefully so as to leave the snow blanket on his legs undisturbed. He dug his phone out of his pocket with stiff hands, skin red from exposure. They were shaking so he curled his hands into fists around the phone, trying to keep them from moving. He went to turn the phone on, his hand spasmed, and it sent the phone flying to the ground.

 

Ben dove after it with clumsy hands, breaking through his snow cocoon. The movement only succeeding in bury the phone deeper into the snow.

 

He needed his hands to loosen up. Ben rubbed them together as best as he could, the friction burnt from the sudden heat and Ben let out a gasp of pain.

 

After a minute of this, Ben bent his fingers experimentally, movement a lot more precise than they had been before.

 

With his newly-warmed hands, Ben made another grab for for his phone. This time a successful one. His hand closed around the phone, and he tugged it toward himself, holding it up against his hoodie.

 

He turned the phone on without problems this time and when the light blared out from the tiny black rectangle Ben could've cried.

 

He probably would've if he wasn't scared that it would freeze his eyes shut.

 

Ben called Klaus on speed dial.

 

"Bonjour, mon préféré frère," Klaus's voice rang out from the phone's speaker. "Five tells me you went on a walk without me. I'm _wounded_."

 

Ben actually did cry this time, a sob ripping from his throat. The tear froze halfway down his face.

 

"K-Klaus," Ben gasped. "Oh thank God."

 

"Ben?" Klaus's demeanor shifted. Ben could hear the sound of movement on the other side of the phone. "What's wrong?"

 

"I-I fell somewhere on the bike path." Ben stuttered out. "Can you come get me? It's really cold."

 

"Yes, yes, absolutely," Klaus replied. There was some more shuffling.

 

He heard Klaus talking on the other side of the phone. "C'mon Five we've got to go save our Bentacles."

 

Ben let his head sink in relief, now that he knew he would be saved, the adrenaline wore out leaving him shaky and exhausted. It would be so easy to fall back asleep.

 

"Stay on the phone with me Ben," Klaus told him as if having read his mind. "You've got to help us get to you."

 

"I'm here," Ben mumbled. "Just tired. 'M jus' gonna sleep for a secon'"

 

"No no no no no!" Klaus yelled in his ear. "Stay awake!"

 

He didn't.

 

* * *

 

_"There! Found him!"_

 

_"Ben? Ben!"_

 

_"Wake up you idiot!"_

 

A warm hand touched his face, pressing up against his cheek, and fighting back against them nothingness. He could feel the warmth from the hand spreading across his face.

 

"He's so cold. Five what if-"

 

"Klaus. Calm down and move _out_ of the way. I need to check his pulse."

 

Another hand went to the side of his neck. He moved his head away from the hand in annoyance.

 

"Ben? He moved!" Was that Klaus? "Open your stupid eyes you idiot!"

 

"His pulse is strong. He'll be fine. Come on, help me get him out of the cold." Five was there too?

 

Ben needed respond to them.

 

"We can't lift him if he isn't awake," Klaus said. "My dear little older brother, why didn't you think of this earlier? _Why didn't I think of that?"_

 

"Klaus. _Focus_ ," Five ordered. "We should've brought Luther."

 

"Ick, no. He never lets me have any fun," Klaus replied.

 

Ben could've laughed at that.

 

"And I do?" Ben mumbled.

 

"Ben!" Klaus yelled loudly, the sound jolting Ben's eyes open. "Come on, help us get you up."

 

Klaus offered a hand, but Ben shook his head.

 

"That's not going to work," Ben told him. "I can't feel my legs."

 

"I'll jump you back," Five said. "But I can't promise it won't make me pass out."

 

"This is _heartwarming_ ," Klaus said. "You really do care about us don't you?"

 

Five glared at him, pressing a hand to both of them. The familiar feeling of his teleportation surrounded them a second later.

 

* * *

 

The house was warm.

 

The house was warm and Klaus and Five weren't letting him fall back asleep.

 

"In order to avoid permanent damage you need to warm up slowly. The best way to do that is to take a warm bath," Five told Ben, he had teleported them directly to the bathroom.

 

"It hurts," Ben mumbled, feeling like a child as he took of his soaked hoodie. He knew they were doing what was best for him but the warm air was acting like an anesthetic and all he wanted to do was sleep.

 

"I'll let you use my special bubble bath," Klaus called from Ben's room where he was grabbing clean, _dry_ clothes.

 

A few minutes later Ben was submerged in the water, bubbles piling up around him.

 

And the rest of the bathroom.

 

And there might've been some sneaking it's way outside of the room.

 

Klaus had gone a little bit overboard with the bubbles.

 

But Klaus was absolutely enjoying it. Ben watched as he scooped up an armful of bubbles, carried it over to Five's unsuspecting head, and dropped it.

 

Five let out a yell and tackled Klaus, shoving his face into the bubbles.

 

"Ben! Help!" Klaus yelled, spitting soap out of his mouth.

 

Ben shoved a mountain of bubbles onto the both of them.

 

They deserved it.

**Author's Note:**

> I tried to keep it pretty accurate, but I certainly took some artistic liberties.
> 
> Also I still feel like this is all over the place. I might go back and fix it at some point.


End file.
